Pew, Hospitals, Device Manufacturers Urge Support for UDI in Claims

The Pew Charitable Trusts and several health organizations, hospital systems, and medical device manufacturers sent a letter on May 17 to Scott Gottlieb, the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, and Seema Verma, the administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, urging them to continue their agencies’ support for efforts to add unique device identifiers (UDIs) to insurance claim forms. Including this information would allow researchers and providers to better track the safety and performance of medical devices over time.

The letter noted the importance of these identifiers in improving patient safety and reducing costs, and highlighted bipartisan support for this policy. The X12, a key advisory committee responsible for maintaining insurance claim forms, recommended adding UDIs to the forms in February.